Preventable deaths: 16 year study of consecutive deaths in a village in Israel

The aims of this study were to examine mortality in one village in Israel and to determine which deaths could have been prevented by identifying those which were associated with avoidable factors or were caused by conditions which would have been amenable to preventive measures. The medical records of all 171 patients (91 males and 80 females) who died in the geographically defined population of 1800 during the 16 year period 1974-89 were reviewed. The mortality rate, adjusted for age, in the second eight year period (1982-89), was significantly lower for females (4.0 deaths per 1000 females per year) than for males (8.5) (P < 0.01). Downward trends in the birth rate, stillbirth rate and perinatal mortality rate were found, while there was an upward trend in both mean and median age at death. Of the 171 deaths, 36 (21%) were classified as being associated with a total of 44 factors which could be perceived as being avoidable. Twenty five of the avoidable factors were patient related and of these 17 were smoking (more than 20 cigarettes a day in patients aged less than 70 years who died of a smoking related disease). These findings confirm the need for continuous health education for patients. An audit of mortality in general practice is valuable and may contribute towards the prevention of some deaths.